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   [31] [Education Contents]

   [32]GNU Home  / [33]Education / [34]Big Tech Threats /

   More examples of [35]malware in educational proprietary technologies.

Educational Malware App "Along"

   The nonfree [36]"education" app Along, developed by a company controlled by
   Zuckerberg, encourages students to use it for private conversations with their
   teachers. Some of the personal data it collects is very sensitive. The company
   grants itself the power to sell "anonymized" data from which, in spite of
   "anonymization," it will be possible to identify many of the students, perhaps
   most. In fact, research shows that in most cases anonymization can be easily
   undone and data tracked back to identify individuals uniquely.

     "Computer scientists have recently undermined our faith in the
     privacyprotecting power of anonymization, the name for techniques that protect
     the privacy of individuals in large databases by deleting information like
     names and social security numbers. These scientists have demonstrated that
     they can often `reidentify' or `deanonymize' individuals hidden in anonymized
     data with astonishing ease". --From [37]Broken Promises of Privacy: Responding
     to the Surprising Failure of Anonymization, by Prof. Paul Ohm. UCLA Law
     Review, 2010. 57, 1701-1777.

   Ohm's paper provides examples of how computer scientists were able to identify
   people from supposedly anonymized databases, while suggesting that the existing
   privacy legislation is unsuitable to properly protect collected data. We hold
   that data should not be collected in the first place and, above all, education
   should not marketized.

   The Along app invites teachers to [38]record personal questions on video and ask
   the student to respond with an audio or video recording. Through this process,
   the app systematically guides teachers to ask students about matters of interest
   for Facebook and other profilers that would be willing to buy the resulting data.

   Leading students to "open up" to teachers about things unrelated to school
   activities may mean putting them in danger, because parents and school
   administrators also are allowed to see students' replies, as well as teachers
   themselves. This becomes more ominous in the light of repressive laws in some US
   states. If a student in Texas tells the school, "I am taking a puberty blocker"
   or "I'm so glad mom gave me money to travel to New Mexico for an abortion," an
   administrator or a teacher who hears this could sue the parents or try to get the
   state to take their children away. They may even be legally required to do so.

   The risk also exists that some students will be punished by their parents for
   things they revealed during the interview.

   To learn more:

   [39]Resisting Proprietary Software
   [40]The Dangers of Proprietary Systems in Online Teaching
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References

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  37. https://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/57-6-3.pdf
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  64. http://www.fsf.org/
  65. http://www.fsf.org/associate/support_freedom?referrer=4052
  66. http://donate.fsf.org/
  67. http://shop.fsf.org/
  68. mailto:gnu@gnu.org
  69. http://www.gnu.org/contact/
  70. mailto:webmasters@gnu.org
  71. http://www.gnu.org/server/standards/README.translations.html
  72. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
  73. http://www.fsf.org/about/dmca-notice